Ontario has once again surpassed 1,900 new COVID-19 infections today, setting a new record for the number of cases confirmed in a 24-hour period.
Provincial health officials logged 1,925 new infections today, one more case than the record 1,924 confirmed on Sunday. The province has seen record-high case numbers now for three consecutive days.
With about 45,000 tests completed yesterday, the test positivity rate is now 4 per cent, down from 4.6 per cent last week, according to the province. While this a notable drop from the 59,000 tests reported on Sunday, Ontario typically sees a dip in testing at the beginning of each week. Last Monday, only 39,406 were completed on the previous day.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases is now 1,820, up from 1,570 last week. This is the first time that number has exceeded 1,800 in the province since the start of the pandemic.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, said the numbers continue to be concerning.
"I think the good news it could have been a lot worse. The modelers were saying up to 6,000 or 8,000 a day. We are just under 2,000 which is not good but could be a lot worse," she said.
"We hope that the numbers won’t continue to go up, that in fact they will stabilize and start to go down."
New infections outpaced the 1,412 recoveries confirmed today, pushing the number of active cases in Ontario to 16,034.
Another 26 virus-related deaths have been confirmed over the past 24 hours, including 13 residents of long-term care homes. According to the province's data, 142 new deaths have been reported over the past seven days. The total number of COVID-19 related fatalities in the province now stands at 3,798, which includes the deaths of 2,391 long-term care residents and eight health-care workers. There are now 118 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, up by one from last week.
Hospitalizations and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions have also increased. The province says there are now 725 people infected with COVID-19 who are receiving treatment in Ontario hospitals, up from 618 just seven days ago. There are now 213 patients in the ICU, up from 168 patients last Monday.
Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott confirmed last week that the rising number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units at some GTA hospitals, including Scarborough General Hospital, has led to the cancellation of some non-emergency surgeries and elective procedures.
Of the new cases today, 512 are in Peel Region, 601 are in Toronto, 167 in York Region, and 133 in Durham Region. Eighty per cent of all new cases today are concentrated in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Today marks two weeks since Toronto and Peel Region entered a provincially mandated 28-day lockdown period.
"It is important to note that the lockdown measures in these two regions have only been in place for two weeks so we do need more time to see the full extent of their impact," Yaffe added.
Despite rising infection rates, York Region, which saw 249 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, has managed to avoid entering the "grey" or "lockdown" zone of the province's reopening framework.
"Our modelling studies already show that going into the lockdown zone is not necessarily going to be benefiting us much in terms of any real gains. Our cases aren't arising from the retail establishments nor are they arising from the restaurant or gyms," Dr. Karim Kurji, York Region's medical officer of health, told CP24 on Sunday.
"So we are not necessarily too convinced that going into the lockdown zone would necessarily help bring the cases down."
Kurji noted that while some hospitals in the region are "getting increasingly challenged," public health officials have done "quite well" when it comes to case and contact management.
New cases in the GTHA:
Toronto: 601
Peel Region: 512
York Region: 167
Durham Region: 133
Halton Region: 54
Hamilton: 76
